While both Athens hospitals are developing their own programs that would operate and receive funding separately, they are in discussions about allowing residents to rotate between the two so they can develop their medical specialties.

“That dialogue is still going, and we encourage it,” said Ben Robinson, the University System of Georgia’s residency manager.

Gwinnett Medical Center is expected to have between 30-54 positions, and a consortium of five southwest Georgia hospitals is in the process of developing 70-80 positions.

The number of hospitals willing to hire and instruct medical residents is growing, putting the state on the way to meeting its goal of 400 new positions.

Besides the five entities in the process of creating local programs, three more hospitals are close to committing to develop their own, and another four are beginning to consider it.

If all come on board, they could exceed the target.

The goal is to have more opportunities for newly graduated physicians at the expanded Georgia Regents University in Augusta and at the campus shared with the University of Georgia in Athens. Doctors are more likely to settle down near hospitals where they spend their residency, so state leaders hope to reduce Georgia’s physician shortage by offering additional residency opportunities.

Gov. Nathan Deal convinced the General Assembly to commit $1.2 million in the current year’s budget, which the regents granted to the first batch of entities as a match to what they’re investing on their own in setup costs. Athens Regional has received $620,000. St. Mary’s got $250,000. The southwest Georgia hospitals got $750,000, and Gwinnett Medical Center got $200,000.

Tuesday, the regents agreed to issue the remaining $80,000 to Gwinnett Medical because it is the furthest along, according to Dr. Shelly Nuss, associate dean for graduate medical education at Georgia Regents University.

The state Legislature appropriated another $3.3 million in next year’s budget.

The state money only goes for the upfront expense of hiring faculty, building on-site classrooms and the administrative requirements of getting accredited, which typically takes two or three years. Once residents are on board, the hospitals get reimbursement from Medicaid for much of the costs.

Nuss said Medicaid is cutting its spending by 2 percent, but since these hospitals have never had residents, they won’t be experiencing any change.

“We’ll prepare the budgets based on what we believe the current budget will be,” she said.

Nuss is also overseeing development of St. Mary’s program while Athens Regional is recruiting its own administrators.

St. Mary’s filed an application in January with the accrediting agency and hopes it will conduct its inspection this fall so residents can be in place by July 2015. In the meantime, it’s renovating space for offices, clinics, classrooms and a physician lounge.

Athens Regional has hired mid-level administrators and is renovating office space with a target of July 2016.

• Follow Walter Jones on Twitter @MorrisNews and Facebook or reach him at walter.jones@morris.com and (404) 589-8424.

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